Bonus musings from a busy Tuesday

A few nuggets from Randy Edsall's media teleconference on Tuesday. The Brandon McLean story that follows this posting is a sneak peak at my story for Wednesday's edition of the Register. I won't do that often but since Pilot Pen tennis is (rightly) dominating our coverage in New Haven this week, it's a good way to keep UConn football prevalent.

Senior tight end Dan Murray, a key cog in the UConn offense, sprained his left ankle during an intrasquad scrimmage Monday night. His status for the season opener is unknown. Edsall said Murray will see team doctors again tonight."Someone fell on him," Edsall said. "He was tackled and someone fell on the back of his leg. The docs are coming up in the afternoon, and we should know more later this evening."

It seems linebacker Ryan Henegan is still in Randy Edsall's doghouse. Henegan, who topped the depth chart at middle linebacker heading into preseason camp, was left off the two-deep. Weakside linebacker Jonathon Smith shifts to the middle and earns the start there vs. URI, swapping his position with Julius Williams (who will backup Danny Lansanah at weakside). True freshmen Scott Lutrus and Lawrence Wilson are listed as the No. 2 MLB's. Edsall again barely acknowledged Henegan when questioned about him by the media. "No sense to even talk about him," Edsall said. "He hasn't even stepped on the practice field yet. These other guys have been through 21 practices already." There must be more to the story.

I'm never one to back away from predictions, so I'll provide a few concerning the depth chart. Donta Moore will start at strong side linebacker against Rhody, but Justin DeRubertis will play a lot, too. If he isn't there for the opener, Desi Cullen will be the starting punter at some point. The kid is just too talented.

That's it for today. I still have a ton of mailbag questions to sift through, so I'll have a second edition of that tomorrow.